President Bharrat Jagdeo, on a visit to the Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary (MMA) areas, urged farmers to diversify their farming practices, listing aquaculture as an alternative farmers in the area can pursue.

According to a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA), the President was accompanied by a team of government officials and made stops at the Karamat Primary School, located at Mora Point, a community in the Mahaicony Creek, and Baiboo, Mahaica.

Since the livelihoods of residents in MMA areas are usually affected during bad weather, President Jagdeo urged the residents to adopt long-term solutions which will bring income stability, the release said.

“People will have to continue planting rice. Rice and cash crops are important but they [farmers] also have to find other activities to diversify at the level of the farm,” the President said.

President Jagdeo said that aquaculture is an alternative which can be adopted by farmers. He said the government was willing to assist farmers in adopting this alternative, supplying fingerlings and constructing ponds so that they could have the necessary means while being involved in aquaculture, GINA said.

“We plan to assist by digging the pond for them [farmers] so that they can convert a small part of their rice land into aquaculture so that if anything goes wrong with the rice crop, at least they have some income for the rest of the year,” President Jagdeo explained.

According to GINA, the residents living in the MMA areas are usually dependent on farming and livestock rearing and the Head of State said that while he noted the degree of pride the residents place into these types of farming practices, it is necessary for them to secure a sustainable income, especially at this crucial time.

The release also stated that through a distribution programme carried out by the New Guyana Marketing Corporation, over 1700 farmers have benefited from seeds, fertilizers, chemicals and plants.

President Jagdeo was accompanied by Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, Chairman of Region Five, Harrinarine Baldeo and other officials of the Agriculture Ministry and the MMA Agricultural Development Authority.